1-58Anger By Periyava Translation from Tamil By V. Krishnaraj கோபம் : தெய்வத்தின் குரல் (முதல் பகுதி) http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part1kural58.htm

Kāmam Krōdham (desire and anger) are two words spoken of in combination. Kāmam is desire. Krōdham is anger, irritation, impatience, hatred…Krishna Paramātmaṉ says in Gita Kāmam and Krōdham push you off the ledge into the sea of sin. Once we develop a desire, we try to acquire or fulfill it in a wrong way. That is how desire pushes us into sin. It is a great enemy. Anger is the next enemy. If we do not acquire the object, we get angry with the obsctructor or the perceived obsctructor. Unfulfilled desire is anger. We throw the rubber ball against the wall. It bounces and comes back to us. What is thrown is desire. What returns or bounces back is anger. The bouncing ball attacks us. Likewise, though we think we attack the other, it attacks us more. Our body shakes in anger. Anguish is the result. If someone takes a photo of us making angry noises and shows them to us later, we understand how hideous we look and feel ashamed. When the hunger in man and animal subsides with food, the hunger returns next time. The fire feeding on fuel never fails (to subside). It burns more exuberantly with more leaping tongues of flame. There is a wholesale devouring of objects by the flame. Though the flames are bright and tracks a path, they leave a trail black tarred objects behind. That is why the fire earned a name Krishna Vartmā. Desire is also Krishna Vartmā. The more it feeds on desired objects, the appetite never slackens but increases. It blackens our mind. Though fulfilment of desire gives a temporary joy, there is always an interminable chase after more of the same resulting in loss of peace and happiness and precipitation of teariness and anger. Cry comes from unhappiness. Unfulfilled desire has two faces: Unhappiness and Anger. If the obstructionists are below our status, we get angry with them. If they are above our status, we cannot get angry with them but feel the anguish, and cry. The ferocity of anger is more powerful than the that of lust or desire. Nala Charithram (Naiṣadham) illustrates it beautifully. King Kali is on the move. His generals Desire and Anger follow him. The court sycophant sings their praises. What does he sing about Krōdhaṉ (Anger)? The saying goes, ‘No place is inaccessible for Kāmaṉ (Desire). There is a fort even Kāmaṉ never entered. Inside that fort, lives Krōdhaṉ. What fort is that? It is the heart of Durvāsa. The sycophant sings the praise of Krōdhaṉ. The moral of the story is that Durvāsa Mahaṛṣi, unknown for desire, is subject to anger. (Durvasa Muni has an irascible and an inflammable disposition.) We should be very careful with the Great Sinner, Krōdhaṉ. Let us give it a thought. We know it. We have no right to get angry and yell at anyone. Our inner witness or self knows we have committed graver errors than those with whom we get angry. Though we may not have done grave errors, we should think that we could have committed the same error under similar circumstances. Krōdhaṉ is our great enemy. We should protect ourselves by not allowing him to approach us.

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